1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to concrete finishing apparatus, and more particularly, to concrete finishing apparatus utilizing a rotating cylindrical finishing roller.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many different engine driven rotating tube concrete finishing equipment have been manufactured and marketed in the past. Such equipment typically includes an end handle assembly rotatably coupled to the end of a rotatable cylindrical finishing roller. An internal combustion engine operates through a gear reduction unit and a ninety degree coupling to rotate the finishing roller in a single direction.
Because it was necessary for the operators of such prior art finalizing equipment to support the comparatively heavy end handle assembly which includes an internal combustion engine as well as to drag the heavy end handle assembly and the attached steel finishing roller during finishing operations, these operators soon become physically exhausted.
In addition, when such single engine, manually supported concrete finishing equipment is used to finish a sloped plastic concrete surface, two operators must manually push or pull the concrete finishing unit uphill and downhill along the sloping surface. To accomplish the required number of finishing passes on the sloping concrete surface, the operators of a single engine unit must reposition the finishing unit at the opposite end of the pours after each pass and repeat the finishing operation. An immediate reversal in the direction of the finishing pass cannot be accomplished because the finishing roller must be rotated into the concrete against the direction of machine travel and the prior art engine driven rotating tubes can only be rotated in a single direction by a gas engine. Tube rotation reversal can only be accomplished with such prior art equipment by horizontally rotating the entire machine one hundred and eighty degrees, an impractical procedure. Repositioning the machine after each finishing pass represents an inefficient, time consuming operation, but is necessary to achieve the necessary relationship between machine travel and tube rotation direction.